Always by Myself, but Never Alone
by DieEierVonSatanSatanBalls
Summary: As a result of a severe beating at a young age, Naruto has gained an ability that makes her see the world in a reverse reality. There is life and there is death. Is there life after death? Is this a gift or a curse? Female Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

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**Always by Myself, but Never Alone**

**Summary**

**As a result of a severe beating at a young age, Naruto has gained an ability that makes her see the world in a reverse reality. There is life and there is death. Is there life after death? Is this a gift or a curse? Female Naruto.**

**Chapter 1 **

**Disclaimer-I'm only going to say this once so pay attention I do not own Naruto.**

**Let me remind you that this is a fanfiction, things are supposed to be different, so don't rearview saying how off the story is! I know it's different, I wrote it!**

**The first few chapters happen before everything: Uchiha Massacre, Neji's curse seal, and his father's death.**

Seven year old Uzamaki Naruto is sleeping on an old dirty mattress inside her ramshackle apartment, given to her by the Sandaime Hokage after she was kicked out of the orphanage. At the foot of her makeshift bed is the side wall of her bathroom, which installed with a shower head on one wall and a toilet off to the side. She was lucky to have an undersized window above her bed. The north wall of her apartment and three feet from her bed was where her kitchen resided. The kitchen itself consisted of a small sink, a single-burner stove, and a mini fridge. All in all her apartment was about ten feet by ten feet.

The time was currently 5:27 AM and Naruto who has learned to get up long before sunrise, to avoid crowds, began to wake up. First she forced her spiky, blond head out from underneath the single thin sheet. Her eyes were kept squeezed shut as she rolled out of bed and headed over to one of the two cupboards in the kitchen to pull out her only other set of clothes. She then stumbled into the bathroom, dropping her clothes on the floor. Bracing herself Naruto turned on the water and let out a little scream as the freezing icicles stab at her back. Her eyes shot open revealing gorgeous, sapphire orbs.

Gasping Naruto waited for her body to adjust to the temperature. It was like this every morning, because the land lord refused to give her hot water. The only way to get it was to heat it on the stove and that's only if she had enough matches to light it. As she got used to the cold she allowed the water to hit her dry clothes so she could scrub those as well.

When she was done she left the bathroom donning her still wet clothes. Naruto lit the burner noticing she only had three matches left. She cursed as she remembered she ate her last cup-of-ramen the day before. _Che! At least it's not the first time I've gone hungry. _She thought to herself bitterly._ I'll just steal something later. _With that thought she walked out of her apartment into still dark and empty streets.

The frigid wind whipped at Naruto's too large orange t-shirt and loose black shorts. The wet clothes clung to her making shiver. She wasn't worried about getting sick; she never got sick, ever. She headed in the direction of the thick forest surrounding the village of Konohagakure to practice her kunai aim.

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7:59 Am/-/_Academy Starts at 8:15_**

Naruto stands at the edge of the forest preparing for the next part of her "training"; speed, endurance and possibly pain tolerance. She reached up and quickly tied her hair into two spiky ponytails at the back of her head. She couldn't afford it to limit her vision. The sun's position told Naruto that she didn't have much time to sprint to the Academy and hopefully snag something to eat from a street vender.

_I hate this part! _She inwardly screamed to herself.However Naruto pushed her fear aside and started jogging. As soon as she hit the crowded streets she broke into a run trying desperately not to show the pain on her face as she heard the villager's reaction to her appearance.

"Monster!" "Why aren't you dead yet?!" "Demon!" "Trash!" _Monster, demon, trash. Monster, demon, trash. Monster, demon, trash. _The insults rang again and again in her head like a chant. Naruto grit her teeth showing a large but fake smile to the world feigning ignorance to their words.

She was brought out of her thoughts as she neared a fruit stand. _Perfect_, crossed her mind and Naruto started to speed up. She shot out her arm and grabbed two apples; however in the second that her gaze drifted from her path, she tripped and met the ground harshly.

"Oi, give those back, you demon thief!" The shop owner yelled, coming around from the other side of the cart.

_Shit, shit, SHIT! _Naruto screamed in her mind. She tried get up quickly. However she was too slow because half way up She was struck ruthlessly across her face. _Yep, defiantly pain tolerance. _Nevertheless,the cart owner unintentionally gave Naruto the momentum she needed to turn around and take off again. She forced herself not to cry at the sting on her cheek instead choosing to smile victoriously at the apples in her hands and ignoring the string of obscenities following her as the man gave chase.

Now having a reason, other villagers began to run after her. Naruto shoved the apples into her pockets and dashed into an alleyway, unrelenting in her speed even as her legs ached and her breath came in harsh gasps. She knew far worse pain would come if she stopped. Naruto broke across to the other side of the alley and plunged into a whole new crowd of villagers, hopping to loose the ones chasing her.

Her plan worked surprisingly as they lost sight of her, but she still couldn't stop yet. The crowds faded away when she hit a park and her shortcut to the Academy. She was surprised when she spotted a boy a little older than herself headed in the same direction. Naruto wasn't exactly sure what to do so she didn't do anything but eventually whether unconsciousl_y_ or not their speeds evened out and they were running side by side.

The spiky black haired boy turned to her revealing dark green eyes **(1)** and asked, "You go to the academy?" Surprised that he was actually talking to her she just nodded. "What year?"

"First", stated simply and to the point but with a smile.

"Heh, I'm a third year. Name's Hagane Kotetsu." He smiled victoriously back at her. Slowly the Academy came into their view and was getting closer steadily.

"Che! No fair!" She pouted but continued anyway. "Uzamaki Naruto, future hokage!" They slowed to a stop when they reached the empty school grounds signifying they were late but neither seemed to care. Instead they focused on fulfilling their lung's request for air.

Still gasping Kotetsu said, "Heh, good luck with that first year."

"No luck required its all skill," Naruto responded confidently, "and don't call me that!"

"I guess I'll see you around then ne, Uzamaki Naruto?" He smirked, _she's defiantly interesting._ "Oh yeah and what happened to your face?"

Naruto put a hand up to cover her bruised cheek as she responded, "Nothin', just fell on my way here." It wasn't a lie but it still wasn't the truth either so she hurried on, "See you around Tetsu, Ja!" With that Naruto hurried to her class hearing a faint 'Ja' as a reply.

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She didn't stop when she approached her classroom door and barged in rather roughly. She tried to catch her breath as the occupants of said room all stared at her.

"NARUTO-" Iruka-sensei started but stopped as she lifted her head to look at him. _Not again_ he thought as he stared at her ugly, black and blue bruise. "Your late." he finished halfheartedly.

She didn't seem bothered and instead reached into her pocket and pulled out a shiny red apple. She smirked at his knowing look, tossing her apple once in her hand Naruto replied, "Gomen", before biting loudly into said apple.

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**Time Skip-October 9****th**

Iruka sighed deeply, _it's only a day away, yet she seems so unfazed_. Naruto has been coming to school beaten and battered for the last week. _Of course all the evidence heals before lunch but that's beside the point. I'm so worried that one day her happy and brash exterior will shatter and all that will be left is an empty shell_. She deserves so much better but nobody is aloud to interfere by council orders. The Sandaime, Hokage himself isn't even aloud to give her the money for a proper apartment! _It makes me so MAD!_ _She doesn't even know why she's hated and treated the way she is. _

Today Naruto came sporting a black eye, bloody lip, and what looked like a broken wrist. When he cornered her at lunch her explanation was that she was lucky to get away with just those minor injuries and that is was no big deal. She even ignores the questions and concern that her small group of friends give. _I fear for her life and even more so now- _Iruka was interrupted from his thoughts as the small timer on his desk went off, followed by many protests for 5 more minutes.

Standing Iruka addressed the class. "Alright let's get started. As you all know, before you can have your own kunai and shuriken you have to learn how to take care of them."

"Aww not again Sensei!" spoke one Hyuuga Hinata. **(2)**

"Yeah, Hina-chan's right, we already did that! Let the upper-classmen take care of their own damn weapons!" Naruto agreed.

Iruka was happy that Naruto had made a good friend in Hinata. Sure they both had their acquaintances and people they could deal with in the class but not _real_ friends. However the two of them together are a force that would break even the seasoned teacher. Just yesterday they managed to infiltrate the ANBU Headquarters, Kami only knows how, and superglue a number of their masks. They had to be ripped off when they finally noticed it. He was just happy they had each other but that didn't mean he would go easy on them.

"I don't care how many times you've done it; you'll keep doing it until I say you've done it enough!", Iruka yelled back. "I don't want any more complaints out of either of you two today and you both know the consequences if you do." He smiled triumphantly as they both promptly sat down with pouts. "Okay, now follow me to the storeroom."

The class of first years stood and walked on, grumbling all the way. That's just how the academy worked. First and second years learned the rules and guidelines of ninjas and how to take care of genin level weapons. Third and fourth years went over the rules, chakra and practiced weapon aim. Fifth and sixth years studied more advanced weapons, basic chakra techniques, genjutsu and taijutsu. Years six, seven and eight take on D-Rank missions and learn to work with various different people. The seventh and Eighth years you are required to pick a fighting style and learn it to the best of your ability. The eighth year you are assigned a team, and instructor, of the best people you worked with and that even out your abilities. The more advanced teams may be allowed the occasional C-rank mission but very rarely. Then you graduate at the end of your eighth year. **(3)**

When you become a Genin you take c-rank missions, Chuunin take B-rank and occasional A-rank missions, Jounin take A-and sometimes S-rank missions, ANBU take the S- and SS-rank Missions. **(3)

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They all shuffled into the storeroom seeing that the second years were already there and working. Hinata spotted her cousin Neji and went to say hi, picking up a fifth year's box of practice kunai. Naruto was about to follow her when the door slammed open suddenly and a dark blur knocked her to the ground. **TBC**

**1:** I know they are not really green but I didn't want you to think I was talking about Sasuke.

**2:** I don't very much like shy, pathetic little Hinata, so I'm going to have her start strong and become shy because of certain events.

**3:** I know its different deal with it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_**Okay scratch that the Uchiha massacre did happen already (I don't want to deal with a happy Sasuke)**_

"Oi! Watch where you're going, Teme!" She managed to screech out indignantly, ignoring Iruka's shout to watch her language and instead focusing on the person in front of her.

"Ah, Gomen-nansi! I didn't mean to, demo I forgot to turn in myShuriken." He replied standing up. It wasn't until he looked at her that he recognized her. "Naruto? What are you doing here?"

"What's it look like I'm doin'ere, Tetsu-teme!?" He held out his hand to help her up which she took. "I'm cleanin', you damn upperclassmen's, weapons."

"Heh, heh, sucks to be you!" _You have no idea_ she thought to herself and was about to reply when a second blur bumped into him.

"Oi, you better hurry Kotetsu, Sensei is going crazy, yelling for you to get moving!"

Catching his friend Kotetsu replied, "Okay, Okay, I'm going Izumo!" He quickly turned back to Naruto and shoved his shuriken pouch into her hands before running off yelling, "Take care of those for me, will ya?"

Already angry for having this job in the first place she indignantly yelled after him, "Oi, I aint your maid, Tetsu, oi!" but it was futile because he was already out of site.

Sighingfrustratedly she stomped over to the bin with his name on it and threw the pouch into it. _Grr… I might as well just clean his and get it over with._ So she picked it up and headed over to where Hinata and Neji were sitting.

Everybody was sitting in a morphed like circle working diligently.

"What's up Neji?" she spoke in a tiered voice.

"The Sky" He answered sarcastically which forced Hinata into giggling.

"Ha, ha, your so very Funny Neji", Naruto said far from laughing.

"I Know", he smirked

"Hey what took you so long Naru-chan?" Hinata asked after she stopped.

"Nothin', just ran into a baka." Hinata gave her a questioning glance but didn't comment.

As she was polishing one of Kotetsu's Kunai she suddenly had a flash back to the first time her skin was introduced to the bite of one. Lost in thought she unintentionally cut herself on the sharp blade. She was only three. Naruto just watched as the red liquid slid down the edge and was brought to a harsh reality that her birthday was tomorrow.

Hinata's quick intake of breath brought her out of her morbid memories and she dropped it with a clang. "Naru-chan! Are you okay, you should be more careful!"

"It's okay Hina-chan, just a scratch." Hinata didn't believe it but she knew better than to question her friend. Naruto picked the weapon up again and began to wipe the blood off. "Hey can I ask you guys a question?"

It really wasn't directed at anyone but Hinata replied with, "Always." And nods scattered around the room.

"Tomorrow is my birthday-", however she wasn't allowed to finish because Sakura interrupted with.

"Forget it loser I'm not going to your party!"

"Urusai, baka, she wouldn't invite you anyway!" Hinata replied.

"Party?" Naruto asked looking confusedly at Sakura. "You guys have parties on your birthday?"

"Duh, everybody does." Ino threw in.

"I don't" Naruto's confused expression turned into that of sadness.

More people were looking at her now, listening.

At this time, Shikamaru decided to speak up, "You said it was tomorrow, right? The day the Kyuubi attacked."

"Aa, because of that I always-", Naruto cut herself off before she gave out too much information. She didn't need their worry and especially not their pity. ", bad things happen, demo, that's not I wanted to ask." Now she defiantly had everyone's attention even Iruka by the door pretending to be busy, was listening with a grim expression. "I wanted to ask that if I were to disappear tomorrow, would you miss me, would you remember my existence?"

Iruka's breath hitch in his throat but it went unnoticed. He knew that it was a very high possibility but he would do everything in his power to prevent it.

"Naruto…" Hinata whispered, "That's not gonna happen."

That seemed to snap Naruto out of her daze because she snapped her head up with a wide smile saying, "Of course not." The bell rang and she hurried out of the storeroom never looking back at her friends. _I knew they wouldn't understand. You're such a baka for bringing it up. Baka, baka, baka!_ She screamed to herself

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It was about 4:30 when she finally made it back to her apartment, sporting a bruised cheek, missing tooth, a chunk of hair gone and three broken fingers. Tomorrow was the day she dreaded all year but this year in the far recesses of her mind she was almost looking forward to it.

Naruto never told anybody but last year right before she lost consciousness she heard a voice, an angry voice, yelling at them to stop. Telling the 'temes' to stop touching his legacy. Every now and then she would feel a dull throbbing in her stomach like someone from the other side was trying to get out. It gave her a sick sense of pride that someone was there with her and wanted to protect her. Naruto knew of course that Iruka-sensei and Hokage-jiji cared for her but she never heard them yell out in fury, name their legacy her's, or curse the human race on her behalf. It made the inevitable beating of her life tomorrow not so horrible.

Naruto shook herself out of her thoughts, she had to prepare if she was going to make it through her birthday with her life. They liked to target her apartment and go after it first so she would not be sleeping in it tonight. Naruto walked over to the end of her bed that hits the side of the bathroom and tugged out a small backpack witch she preceded to stuff with her thin blanket, all her weapons, and two cups-of-ramen. She then threw on her other pair of clothes on top of the ones she had on because she was going to need the extra warmth.

Naruto looked the door on her way out, even though it wouldn't stop anyone who wanted to get in, and headed into the forest.

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Naruto traveled until dark and eventually found a small clearing perfect for her. It was roughly the size of her apartment with a fair sized creek running through the middle and filled with ferns. The blond girl slowly walked to a tree at the edge of said clearing, took out her blanket and wrapped it around her before she leaned up against the trunk. However sleep would not come to her with past birthdays flashing through her mind. And the forest, it was quiet, eerily so, as if someone was out there watching her.

Naruto couldn't take it anymore; she curled up on herself and cried until her eyes hurt.

She couldn't even stay here all day tomorrow, no, she had to meet up with Iruka-sensei and hokage-jiji so they wouldn't worry about her. She tried but couldn't stop the flow of water down her face. After a while of sobbing so hard her body shook, Naruto felt a wave of pathetic ness wash over her. Crying doesn't get me anywhere, she thought, suddenly sick with herself.

She took a kunai out of her backpack and stabbed her own hand with it. Feeling an urge to better herself and cement her choice, she spoke her oath out loud, "These will be the last tears I shed, I will not wallow in my self-pity any longer, and I will never show my enemies or the villagers how much they're hurting me!" Her promise started out soft but grew in intensity toward the end, reinforcing the statement within her. After that she was able to sleep quite soundly, confident that she will survive whatever comes at her.

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Naruto woke up when the first of the sun's rays lightened the clearing. She sat up yawning as she thought of her strange dream of a very large gate with a seal on it. The young blond couldn't see anything beyond the gate but she could feel its presence; dark and foreboding, powerful and unfamiliar but not evoking any fear within her. It was strange and unlike anything she ever dreamed about before. Naruto shook off the bizarre hallucination and began her chakra exercises and kunai aim because she couldn't go to the academy today; she'd never make it.

When she was finished she started to run around the clearing. Naruto didn't want to over exert herself so she stopped when she managed to work up a decent sweat. After she sat down on the cool grass she noticed that one of her poorly aimed kunai made its self halfway up the slick trunk of a tree. There were no branches anywhere near her reach but she refused to just leave it up there when they were so hard for her to come by.

The blond girl noticed that there was another tree farley close to it but not too close, perfect for jumping between the two. Summoning some chakra to her feet to enhance her speed Naruto jumped between the two trees as fast as she could gradually gaining height. When she reached her target she overshot it a little but still managed to pull out her kunai. However the result of her overshot caused her to begin falling back to the earth uncontrolled. As a reflex, Naruto reached out all her limbs for the tree closest to her. Thinking it wouldn't help much she was surprised when her two chakra pumped feet stuck to the tree and her upper half swung backwards making her collide with the tree upside down. So surprised, in fact, that she lost her control on her chakra and plummeted the rest of the way to the ground.

Naruto just laid there contemplating what happened. _If I could do that then maybe… if I do it right I could, possibly, walk up and down trees._ With that thought she stood up and gathered chakra into her right foot. Experimentally she placed it against the trunk to see if it stuck. When she applied her weight, Naruto was sent right back to the earth. Initially, she thought it didn't work at all but when she looked back she saw that she left a mark on the trunk where her foot was.

_Okay I think I just need more chakra…and a little momentum wouldn't hurt either._ She thought as she walked about 15 feet from the tree. Naruto then turned around and focused more chakra to her feet this time before taking off at a sprint for the tree. When her first foot hit the trunk she was pleased when it stuck but when her second foot struck she was immediately blown off. In a last ditch effort Naruto did a half flip mid-air so that it was her back that was slammed into the opposite tree instead of her head.

Now that she knew it was possible the stubborn blond refused to give up now, even with the ache in her back. _If I master this it will give me the advantage I need over the villagers._ The pain in her hand reminded her of her promise and that if she was going down she would go down with a fight. It was that same pain that compelled her to keep practicing into the long hours of the afternoon.

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The four ANBU have been guarding the child since the night before. They watched her cry, stab herself, sleep and discover tree walking, a move taught to fifth years in the academy. They thought she would give up after her first laughable attempts, but she didn't. It was strange really, here was a first year, maybe five months in, knowing the absolute bare minimum about chakra doing a semi- advanced chakra control exercise. But then again you learn a lot off the streets in a ninja village.

Even now, as they watched, she was making slow but steady progress even if she hadn't reached the top it was still amazing that she kept trying. At first they thought that maybe it was because of the Kyuubi inside her but quickly dismissed the idea; the Kyuubi was a cold blooded killer, he would never help anybody.

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Naruto was sitting down, resting, when she looked up to see the sun had reached the middle of the sky. The blond girl cursed under her breath. She had barley made it a third of the way up and now she had to go meet with Hokage-jiji. Naruto was nervous. She had to go all the way to Ichiraku's by herself.Now is when it all starts. _I'll only be safe for a few hours at most with Jiji before he has to attend to Hokage business and Iruka will be at the academy._

Naruto felt her breath hitch in her throat as some of her previous courage waned. It's all a matter of time before the unavoidable happens. _Demo, I can't just not go. I don't want Jiji worrying too much over me and I won't back down from the villager's threat. _It was with heavy dread that Naruto walked out of her clearing back toward Konohagakure no Sato.

**Leaprechaun1-**sorry but i hate it when they're 12


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The trees' gradual dispersion as Naruto ran on, wore on her nerves. _Why am I in such a hurry to meet my impending doom? And why the hell am I smiling as I go?! _She unconsciously clenched her still wounded left hand. Fresh pain replaced the dull throbbing and traveled up to her shoulder.

Naruto bit her lip in dismay that she could possibly forget. _That's right; I refuse to show my fear._ Body shacking but head held high, eyes set in stone; she began thinking of the route she was going to take to the Hokage tower. The safest would be to stay in the forest and navigate around the village to the hokage monument.

_That will get me close to the tower, however, how I'll get from monument to tower will take some imagination but if I can meet Jiji early then I won't have to go to __Ichiraku alone._

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Hyuuga Hinata was worried. She still couldn't get Naruto's worlds out of her mind: _'If I were to disappear tomorrow…'_ well it was tomorrow today, and she wasn't at the academy. Naruto has a reputation of being habitually late but always showed up or was dragged back by Iruka-sensei before lunch.

Iruka himself seemed to be in distress. He was fidgeting; never staying in one spot for too long, repeatedly dropping the same object, and stuttering over his speech. Through it all his eyes seemed to be glued to the windows, watching, searching. For what, she didn't know. What worried Hinata the most, however, was that he hadn't gone out to look for her as usual this morning, and he didn't even call out her name for roll either. The young Hyuuga heiress wasn't the only one to notice these changes though. It is expected of those who attend The Ninja Academy, and for Iruka, knowing this and still allowing his distress show was a testament to just how upset he really was.

The bell rang: lunch. _This is bad. She still hasn't shown up. Why do I feel as if something horrible is going to happen on the villages' greatest holiday celebrating the defeat of the Kyuubi? This is supposed to be a happy event, yet I feel like I'm going to be sick._

Most of the students jumped out of their seats in complete normality, eager to get out of the classroom. It made Hinata mad that they hadn't noticed her friend's absence or their sensei's tension.

Five students took their time, rising abnormally slow from their seats. Hinata sat in the back of the room and because of this she was easily able to lock gazes with Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji in equal succession. She saw it in their eyes that they felt something off as well. Even the great Uchiha Sasuke glanced her way before exiting the classroom. The others followed shortly.

Long navy hair shook with her body as she stood. _I can't ignore the feeling that something…something big is going to happen involving Naruto._ And although they weren't especially friends, Hinata was glad she wasn't the only one who knew it.

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Naruto sat herself atop the Yondaime Hokage's head and immediately went into her thinking pose: legs crossed, chin in right hand, eyes squinted, head tilted toward the ground and left hand rubbing her neck. Naruto was by no means fond of heights and the steady wind was not helping this thought process. _There is no way in hell I'm jumping off this lump of rock to the hokage tower. That's just not gonna happen! There is a rarely used staircase that will take me close to the back of the tower. Demo it's rarely used for a reason. The wood is old and rickety, and the wind is strong today. _

Naruto chanced a glance over the Yellow Flash's spiky hair, not so unlike her own. She watched as a gust of wind pushed a softball sized stone over the edge. She watched as it hit his nose and broke in half before the force of gravity split it further into fourths. And she watched as the four tiny pieces hit the ground and disappeared; shattered into oblivion. _Yep, stairs it is._

Naruto jumped to her feet and made a beeline for said ancient stairs, bypassing the sign and yellow tape commanding her not to go any further. She would rather take her chances with gravity and a quick death rather than running into a villager early, on the main stairs, and be tortured for the rest of the day and then dieing.

She froze when one cloth covered foot made contact with the first step causing the aged wood to groan loudly in protest. Naruto closed her azure eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again. She continued on carefully, always testing a step before putting her weight on it. The now eight year old blond tried in vain to block out the horrible creaking of the gradually decomposing lumber, but it was futile.

Naruto managed to make it a third of the way down with minimal trouble; however her luck was always worse on her birthday. She came to a gap of four steps in the wood work. She couldn't help but speak her thoughts aloud, "God damn it, why the fuck does this always happen to me?!"

Sure it would be an easy jump if the landing was sturdy and not as old as the village itself! _I just know this is gonna end bad but I have to try. Besides this is the safest way for me to go. _Naruto jumped and for the split second she was in the air she reconsidered her last thought. _The safest way for me to die or get to the ground? _She decided it was both, but either way she wasn't going down without a fight. Her feet connected.

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Three of the ANBU guarding Konoha's Jinchuuriki were ready to jump in to prevent her from taking the leap but stopped when their commanding officer ordered them too.

"Our orders were not to interfere unless it is absolutely necessary." He stated in monotone.

One of the others spoke up, "Demo Kak-"; she stopped herself before continuing, "She could very well die from this!"

"Orders are orders. We will only involve ourselves when she is about to hit the ground."

With that, they turned back to watch always ready for anything. They weren't sure if he wanted to know if she would do anything to help herself or if he just wanted to watch her fall. Hating your village's demon container was incredibly common after all.

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For an instant, nothing happened. All Naruto could here was her heart rapidly resounding throughout her body… then sound came rushing back to her all at once: wood collapsing, splintering and breaking together in a domino effect. "OH SHIT!" The first step collapsed then the next and the next. She panicked, forgetting to breathe, she did nothing while the first three steps fell taking her with them. Adrenaline kicked in and on instinct she reached out and grabbed a large piece of a ruined step from the air.

Twisting in mid air she gripped the piece with both hands and jammed it into the side of the mountain. Naruto stuck her feet out to help balance and slow her descent. That failed when the step she was gripping shattered in her hands.

With nothing else she gathered chakra to all four of her limbs before shoving her hands forward to help her feet in an attempt to soften her dive into the earth. Naruto grit her teeth in pain as the rigid rock of the monument tore and bit at the skin on her fingers and toes. She ducked her head to lesser the chance of impact with the other steps, breaking on her back, contacting it.** (1)**

With her eyes closed Naruto didn't realize she was slowing down until she stopped. There was a step touching her back so she wasn't sure how high up she still was. She looked down to find out the ground was approximately two feet from her heels. She was breathing rapidly now, almost hysterically as she released her hold on her chakra and fell back on her butt taking the remaining five steps with her.

Then the pain came back to her, her hands and feet felt like they were on fire. Naruto looked down to find them a mess of polluted**(2)** blood and splinters. She didn't want to move and didn't think she could but she couldn't stay here. People will start coming soon and she didn't want to be there when they did.

_Holy shit, I can't believe I did that! Oh my fucking Kami that was the scariest shit I have ever done!_ Was where her frantic mind was trying to work out what had just happened as she dragged herself to an alley two streets over.

Naruto took off the extra shirt she was wearing and tore it into strips to wrap around her wounded hands and feet. It hurt like a bitch but that was normal in her life. Right now she needed to focus on getting to the hokage tower.

* * *

The academy was not very far from the hokage monument and the student were able to clearly hear the stairs collapsing even if they weren't exactly sure that what it was at the time. Iruka-sensei had told them all to stay where they were while he went to check it out. Naturally not all of them obeyed.

As soon as Iruka had disappeared through the door Hinata was out of her seat and headed to the windows on the side of the classroom. 'What do you think your doing Hinata?', 'Sensei said to stay here!'; 'You'll get in trouble!' were some of the comments that followed her to and out of the window. She wasn't concerned with that; she had to know what happened and she wasn't the only one. The same five boys were following her.

The monument came into view and they followed to crowd to the side of it. It certainly was a site to see. The old, rickety staircase that had always been there was now in ruins at the bottom. You could still clearly see the remaining third that survived but that's not what caught everybody's attention. It was the fact that each step was broken and splintered meaning that it didn't just fall it was torn down, but even that fact wasn't the focus point. The long, thick, streak of blood that trailed all the way from a few feet below the remaining stairs to just above the ground was what had everybody all riled up. Some were spouting nonsense about how a demon did it and that it should be killed tonight.**(3) **

Hinata noticed that some people were following a trail of blood that ended not too far from here and ran after them. It stopped at an empty alley with a shredded orange cloth in the center. She pushed past the crowd and picked it up to reveal it as what used to be a shirt. That really set the people off, they were furious now, for reasons Hinata didn't understand.

She glanced at those who followed her from the academy. They knew it was Naruto's too. All Hinata could hear was noise. She didn't understand what they were saying anymore. They were all so angry. _Why?_

Wind blew her long hair into her eyes and obscured her view of the villagers. Broken from her trance Hinata ran. She ran and ran until she didn't know where she was anymore. She tripped, there was pain and then her world faded into darkness.**(4)**

* * *

Naruto was lucky for once, in that the staircase incident had provided the perfect distraction and she was able to easily find her way to the tower and Hokage-jiji himself. They were currently at Ichiraku's the sun was setting and Naruto was content with the Hokage's protection and four bowls of miso ramen.

The hokage knew, of course, that Naruto was responsible for the stair incident but he also knew why she took that way and that she didn't do it on purpose. And besides it was her birthday, punishments can be given tomorrow.

The third fire shadow turned his swivel chair to face the young blond girl. He took out a small wrapped package and handed it to her. "Happy birthday, Naruto", he said with a gentle smile.

She smiled broadly back at him and started to unwrap it. He was watching her fingers, which she didn't seem to favor or show any kind of pain for. _Has Kyuubi already healed them?_ The paper fell off to expose a pair of black goggles. This was the first gift Naruto had ever received and she wasn't sure what to do, but she was so happy that she flung herself into a hug with her Jiji.

In a small voice so unlike herself she whispered, "Arigatou ojiji."

He replied with a voice equal to hers, "Your welcome Naruto-chan." _Maybe it was the kyuubi's healing but I wouldn't put it past her to act like it didn't hurt, just so she wouldn't worry me. That's just the way Naruto was. _

The sun was set by the time they went their separate ways. Iruka had stopped by for a while at Ichiraku so now there was no one else to see. Naruto could now freely retreat into the forest but that's only if she makes it there.She waited until she could no longer see the old hokage before she took off running bearing her new goggles proudly.

**(1)Her legs are basically sliding under the steps and they are braking on her upper back.**

**(2)Dirty from the rock of the monument.**

**(3)They think it is an omen or the demon warning them.**

**(4)She knocked herself out.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**vote for paring in profile**

**9:34 Pm**

Darkness shrouded the empty streets of Konoha's slums. Sounds of the festivities echoed off the walls of the barren alleys. Hot winds blew trash and the potent smells of smoke and alcohol in circles. The stars of a moonless night gave very little light but one could sill see the figure of a child on the ground from the bright lights of the still celebrating villagers. Said child was lying next to the mouth of an alleyway motionless. There was blood on her forehead and the wall next to her, suggesting that she tripped and hit her head on it before passing out. In her hands she clutched strips of a ripped orange cloth.

Hyuuga Hinata was brought back to consciousness when a far away scream rippled through the vacant streets. She jerked upright bringing a sharp pain that ripped throughout her head. Eyes wide with shock and pain she savagely wiped the blood blurring her vision away.

The scream came again followed by another and another. It didn't resemble fear or helplessness so much as pain. Profound. Bloody. Shredding. Pain. It sounded so loud to her but still didn't seem to penetrate the festival's barrier of indifference.

Hinata scrambled to her feet ignoring her headache when she recognized the voice. Running again in the direction of the noise reminded her of her still sore leg muscles, but there was only one thing on her mind. _Naruto-chan._

* * *

_**9:25 Pm**_

The ANBU guarding Naruto were the only ninja force even remotely near by when their charge's apartment exploded. They had no choice but to help control the blazing inferno; other people lived there as well and a crowd was gathering to watch the 'demon nest' burn.

They assumed that with the villager's attention elsewhere that Naruto would be safe on her own for a couple of hours but left one ANBU member to watch her anyway. Racing off in the opposite direction, they failed to see said ANBU motion for a crowd of villagers out of hiding before turing back to Konoha no Sato's Jinchuuriki.

* * *

**9: 47 Pm**

Hinata felt like she had been running for hours. Wet tears were streaming down her face making it hard to breathe. The screams that tormented her ears were steadily growing louder. She felt so close yet a part of her wasn't sure she wanted to see what was happening to her friend.

She rounded another corner and stopped dead in her tracks. Hinata was right in her thought that she didn't want to see.

There were six of them. All men with various different kinds of knives. They were crouched around the young blond holding her down and carving kanji into her skin but Hinata wasn't close enough to identify them. Naruto was on her stomach lying in her own blood and screaming in pain but not a single tear shown in her sapphire eyes. Her clothes were badly torn and hardly covered anything.

Hinata sank to her knees and bawled but couldn't tear her eyes away or help the girl. She was so afraid she could barley breathe.

Nobody took notice to her presence as they flipped her struggling friend on her back to carve on her stomach. Naruto stopped cry then as if she'd gone num and could no longer feel the pain.

She locked her gaze onto the man directly above her and just stared. He wore a uniform that Hinata had seen a couple of high rank ninja ware. She wanted to puke but didn't have the breath for it.

He froze when he felt her gaze on him. "A demon has no right to wield such innocent eyes," he spoke for the first time as he lifted his kunai. He put a hand on her face to hold her down before he plunged his weapon into each one of her eyes separately. Her blood curdling scream echoed of the walls and shook Hinata to her bones.

The villagers were smiling and laughing and fireworks went off in the background. The last thing she saw was a reddish glow come from Naruto as a man started to cut off her fingers. Hinata stood up and ran away from the seen. Horrified beyond imagination with her best friend's scream still ringing in her ears Hinata ran home and collapsed unnoticed by any of her family before clasping on her bed and going into shock where no one would notice her until morning.

* * *

_**9:53 Pm**_

Naruto didn't know how long she could take the pain. It was horrible; the worst she had ever experienced. Her throat was raw and bleeding from over use and every fiber of her body hurt.

They were moving her she realized. She kicked and scratched with everything she had and knew that it was no use but refused to give up. She was sucking in a breath to scream again when a viscous growl reverberated throughout her entire body. For reasons Naruto was not aware of she was immediately calm even though she could still feel the pain.

She looked up to find a man on top of her with a strange mask on. It was white with a strangely animal appearance. He turned to look at her and his words stung worse than a physical blow. Before she could react a fierce burning stabbed at her eyes and everything was black. If she screamed she didn't remember.

* * *

**11:32 Pm**

When the ANBU team finally found Naruto, she was face up in a pool of blood. Surrounding her were the body parts of five or six people; it was almost impossible to tell. There were traces of a detestable and horrific chakra all around the alley way centering on the child herself.

Those of the team who remember the specific chakra visibly stiffened. However the sight of a bloodied and injured child, whether foolishly or not, took a higher priority. The one with, blindingly, white hair hurriedly ran over to her. He took off his ANBU shirt and wrapped it around her to cover her exposed body, before gently picking her up. She was cold and limp in his embrace, with her head and arms hanging lifelessly, giving them a clear view of her blood covered face.

"I'm going to take her to the hospital; you guys stay here and clean this up. Also, try to identify them if you can." Neither of the remaining ANBU agued with him as he ran away at full speed.

When Kakashi arrived at the hospital he immediately sought out a medic. Very few people were working because of the festival but he sought out the most skilled there. When he found her the acidic look she gave Naruto instantly put him on guard.

"Just give her to me and I will heal her while you go and bring the Hokage," she said to him.

She must have thought he was stupid. "I can't do that Akiko-san; my orders are to watch over her." He replied in monotone, still holding the comatose child.

"Well you've done a wonderful job so far haven't you," she spit back at him sarcastically with a scowl.

He glared at her even though he knew she couldn't see it and said through gritted teeth, "Get someone else to do it." And she did, albeit reluctantly, send a volunteer to get they're Hokage.

When the Sandaime Hokage arrived it was in a flourish of robes and barely contained anger. Not needing to be asked the redressed Hatake Kakashi informed him on the events as he knew them to be. The Kage's rising anger dissipated and his sadness grew as he laid eyes on the bandaged Naruto.

The medic came up to him and told him her condition. "Hokage-sama, her wounds are strange. They were already healed when she came in," the Hokage stiffened with this information and looked her in the eye. "All that's left are scars so the extent of her injuries will probably never be known, but her eyes… it's impossible to tell until she wakes up, but my guess is that she will never be able to see again. With the amount of damage done to them I'm surprised they still appear whole."

Sarutobi stood stark still in shock. _What about her ninja dream? She'll have to work a hundred times harder than anyone else and that's only if it's even possible for her anymore._ "What do you mean by 'appear whole'," he asked in a daze.

"I can't open her eyelids, it's as if they are sealed shut. I have never in all my life seen or even heard of anything like this before."

Undiluted surprise was the shared emotion among Kakashi and the Kage. "Sealed?" asked Kakashi.

"Aa, look." Akiko walked over to Naruto's bedside and unwrapped her bandaged eyes. Shock red welts circling each eye greeted them. The room dropped several degrees in temperature at the sight. Akiko demonstrated by gently pulling the lids back with no result. Sarutobi nodded indicating that he understood and allowed her to rebind Naruto's eyes.

When she was done she hesitated, looking at the Hokage and fidgeting before speaking. "Ano, Hokage-sama there is something you should see," He watched her in confusion as she turned the blond child so that her back was facing up.

The room was filled with the earlier suppressed killing intent when Akiko lifted up Naruto's shirt to reveal the kanjis; 'Demon', 'Bastard', 'Monster', Cursed', 'Nine', 'Kyuubi', and more.

"They are all over her body." Akiko choked out, breathless from they're combined killing intent and it rose with her statement.

* * *

Naruto woke up submerged in water. She felt so broken that she wasn't sure if she really wanted to fight to the surface. _The pain is gone. Maybe I'm already dead._ Then the water began to rush all around her and her breath was running out. She swam then, wildly and desperately to the surface.

Once she broke out the waters calmed but she was still drifting toward the largest gate she had ever seen. The walls around her were cracked and a yellowish, green color but they were smooth. Just as she was wishing for something to grab onto to keep herself from moving any farther, a two inch thick bar jutted out of the wall right in front of her. She grabbed onto it albeit hesitantly and observed the gates once more.

In the middle of the gate was a small sheet of paper that read 'seal'. Before Naruto could observe anything else a deep, menacing, voice echoed through out the big room. **"Foolish child!"** The walls vibrated with the force of speaker. Naruto was once again struck with that unnatural calm. The water seemed to vanish into nothingness as she focused completely on the voice. With the water gone she fell relatively six feet to the ground not having the presence of mind to hang onto the bar. **"It **_**is**_** possible to die in your mindscape. You become a vegetable: body living but mind gone forever. Then where would we be?" **

His voice was angry but failed to strike any fear within her. As she drew closer, she managed to make out an enormous hairy figure in the darkness behind the bars. Before she could go any further, five claws shot between the bars. Two claws were on either side of her face close enough to touch. She reached a hand out emotionlessly and ran it over the pearly white surface. And then it was gone from under her hand; retreated back through the bars. After that he burst into bright red flames that shrunk into the size of a grown man.

As the blaze dissipated it revealed a man with spiky, long, fire engine red hair, two red triangle fox ears on top of his head, and nine matching red tails at the base of his back. Three thick whisker marks on each cheek not unlike her own and red, silted pupil, eyes were twisted into an angry snarl showing off elongated canines. He wore a shiny metal chest plate with a length of black fur tied around his waist and lining his shoulders **(**_**Think Koga from Inuyasha)**_. His feet were bare save the red bandages wrapped around the bridge of each foot and up his calves. Black loop earrings lined the outer edge of his ears and his sharp claws were stained a blood red color.

"**Don't touch me." **He growled out through gritted teeth. She just stared at him with empty eyes.

"Who are you," she finally asked. "Where are we?"

"**I am the Kyuubi no Yoko, greatest of the nine bijuu, ruler of the Kitsune and we are in the depths of your mind." **For the next hour Kyuubi explained to Naruto that she was his Jinchuuriki and how it happened, he also told her his reason for attacking Konoha, muttering angrily how he was going to kill the teme who had the nerve to control him (Uchiha Madara). He even told her that he was able to force a minimal amount of his chakra out in a shockwave that destroyed her attackers and that now his chakra is more assessable to the point that it seemed they could easily talk to each other. He said that as his Jinchuuriki she was a reflection of himself so he expected her to make a name for herself. With that he explained that in order to fully heal her eyes he had to use a lot of his chakra and that it could have a permanent side effect. Lastly he told her that she was no longer safe in the village and that they should leave and come back when she is stronger.

Through it all she stood there listening intently and decided that he could be trusted. Sure he was a viscous blood thirsty demon but if she died then so did he. Naruto didn't care if he was helping her for his own sake; he was still helping her and very few people had done that for her.

"**Now wake up, I grow tiered of your presence and things seem to be getting interesting out there." **She glared with little effect but before she could retort she felt a rushing sensation and everything was black again.

* * *

Akiko stumbled out of the hospital room, too terrified to walk properly. After she had left, the Sandaime and Kakashi rolled Naruto's tiny body back over and just stared at her. They're killing intent had died and in its place a heavy sorrow filled, silence engulfed the room.

Naruto abruptly sat strait up breathing harshly in an attempt to suck the air into her lungs. The other two occupants of the room stepped back in surprise before the Hokage asked, "Naruto?" instantaneously she froze her rapid movements. "Are you alright," he continued.

In eerie slowness she turned her head in his general direction. "Jiji? Is that you?" she replied while simultaneously bringing her small hands up to cover her ears.

"Aa," he answered, "it is." Naruto was breathing deeply again; in what seemed to be panic.

"Who else is here Jiji?" she asked in almost a frantic whisper.

"The ANBU who brought you to the hospital is the only other person besides you and me here." She was shaking her head now denying the statement.

"Why?" Her voice started in the same whisper but then grew into a shriek. "Why are you lying to me Jiji?! Who are all the people here?! Why are they so loud?!" the hokage and Kakashi exchanged confused looks.

"Naruto there are only three people in this room. One of them being yourse-" his voice was cautious before he was interrupted.

"No! Stop Lying!" she shouted. Her fingers were now scratching wildly at the bandages around her eyes. In her haste her fingernails drew fresh blood on her forehead and cheeks. Momentarily frozen in shock, the occupants had no time to react before the bandages were on the floor beside the hospital bed.

Looking around wildly Naruto's eyes fell on the many faces in the full room. _Why would Jiji lie to me? _In the back of her head she heard Kyuubi say, **"He wasn't lying to you kit. It would seem that this is your new eyes' ability; seeing the sprits of those past on."** That new bit of information was not exactly reassuring to the eight year old Naruto.

One man in the middle of the room spoke then, after a confused silence. _"It would seem that the gaki has lost her mind."_ As soon as he started speaking her eyes immediately locked on to him.

"_I don't think so, Sakumo-san, she is looking right at you."_ Naruto's gaze then fell on the red haired woman speaker.

_"Are you implying that she can see us?!,"_ one replied.

"_That's absolutely preposterous,"_ another one shot in agreement. Soon the whole room was filled with shouting and it all seemed to center around her. She started breathing harshly again. More and more seemed to come from the walls to join the argument. It was all so loud!

"Jiji!", she shouted over the noise. The Sandaime was abruptly at her side, worried. He gasped when her eyes met his for the first time. Naruto's once perfectly round pupils had stretch into slits. Kakashi who was right behind him was also surprised but it failed to show beyond his mask.

However when Naruto saw the mask she immediately flashed to the bone whit mask above her and the pain that accompanied the sight. She shouted and fell over the edge of the bed, scooting until her back connected with the wall. "Kakashi, your mask; take it off."

"Demo, my Sharingan-," seeing his Kage's glare, he complied closing his left eye. Kakashi's mask was unique in that it did not have an eye hole for his left eye. Instead it was a screen that could easily be removed if he had to use his Sharingan.

Naruto wasn't stupid, even with the mask off she still didn't trust the man. But Jiji seemed to trust him so she supposed she could deal with him. More importantly the sprits had gone quiet again and were all watching her once more. At this moment she remembered that Kyuubi had told her that it would be safest to leave the village for a while.

She turned her gaze to the hokage yet again and tried not to show the hurt she felt when he flinched under her stare. "Jiji, I don't want to stay here anymore." A pained expression passed over his face but before he could interrupt she continued. "I'll come back! I promise I will, but I can't stay here while I'm still weak! I've already been living on my own for a while now. How much worse can it be out there?" It hurt to say these things but they were true and to an extent the Hokage knew that.

Sarutobi was silent for a long time before he responded. "I understand, but Naruto, if I allow you to do this, you _will_ be back by the Chuunin Selection Exam at the very latest. Also I have an acquaintance that you _will_ report to every month until he deems you worthy of more time." Naruto nodded, listening her best over the shouting of some of the sprits. He took out a Hitai-ite from his robes and gave it to her. Along with a piece of paper that he scribbled on. "His information and where to find him, along with my signature and the date of the exams are on that paper. And the Hitai-ite…give it to him when you first meet him. It will be him, who decides when you are fit to be the rank of Genin. When you reach that rank and still decide to not yet return you will be given the occasional mission to accomplish. There is a pair of clothes in the bathroom as I expect you want to leave right away. When you come back Naruto, I want you to tell me everything and I mean everything."

Naruto nodded gratefully yet a little hesitantly and headed to the bathroom as Kakashi looked at the Hokage in disbelief. She could hear their muffled voices behind the bathroom door but paid little mind to them.

* * *

As Naruto was about to pass through the high gates of the village exit and into the darkness beyond, she heard the hokage call out to her. "Naruto! What do you want me to yell your friends about your disappearance."

Without a moment's hesitation and in an emotionless voice she replied. "Tell them that I died on my birthday." With that said she turned and disappeared into the darkness.

When the Sandaime Hokage could no longer sense her chakra he turned away from the gates only to have an ANBU appear before him. "Hokage-Sama we found these." Said ANBU placed a pair of broken and disfigured goggles at his feet.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Vote for paring in profile.**

**This is a filler chapter of select events that happened while Naruto was away from Konoha.**

Naruto had been followed ever since she left the hospital, three days ago. She recognized one as the red haired woman that spoke to the 'Sakumo' person and the other was a man that shared a great resemble to herself with his blond hair and bright, blue eyes.

She hadn't spoken to them once the entire three days and her questions itched to be answered. It was uncanny how they always watched her but never said anything. Finally she had had enough. She sighed and turned sharply on them yelling, "Who are you?!"

They stopped as well with wide eyed, open mouthed, expressions. The red head was the first to break the silence. _"Ha! I told you she could see us Minato!"_ She then proceeded to punch 'Minato' on the arm and laugh hysterically, forgetting that Naruto was still sanding there watching them.

Naruto glared and the blond man stared at her. "Who are you and why are you following me," she repeated, louder this time.

As the woman quieted her laughter the man spoke, _"My name is Namikaze Minato and she is Namikaze Kushina." _

Naruto kept looking at him far from satisfied with his short answer, "And? Why are you following me?"

"_We've always followed you,"_ Kushina stated.

"No you haven't"

"_Yes we have"_

"No you haven't!"

"_Yes we have!"_

"No You Haven't!"

"_Enough!"_ Minato cut in, "_Yes, we have always been watching over you."_ He stopped shortly to glare at Kushina who had stuck her tongue out at Naruto. _"You just haven't been able to see us until…"_

Naruto scratched the back of her neck nervously. "So your dead ne?" Seeing their affirming nods she continued. "You still look like any other person…hm…anyway that still doesn't explain why you're following _me_ in particular."

There was silence as the two deceased looked at each other. They seemed to come to an agreement because Minato turned away from Kushina and looked at Naruto. He appeared nervous as he walked up to her and crouched so that they were eye level. Kushina had also fixed her gaze Naruto, bearing an unreadable expression. Minato's face however was a mask of complete seriousness as he locked eyes with Naruto. Their actions made Naruto worried; she had no idea why they were acting like this.

"_Naruto,"_ he said, "_Naruto…we are your parents."_ Silence reigned supreme as they watched for her reaction, and outwardly there was none. Naruto stood there just staring at him. Hesitantly, she brought her hand up and reached to touch his face. She gasped as a tingling sting met her fingers and shot up her arm. She didn't even notice that her hand had passed through his head and out the other side as images flashed before her eyes.

_Minato was standing on a huge toad and before him was the snarling and rampaging nine tailed fox. Minato was making hand seals hastily and when he finished a large-_something_ appeared behind him and shoved its hand through him to latch onto the fox, pulling him towards itself. Before long it and the fox had disappeared. Minato collapsed and started to fall off the toad before it caught him with its tongue and set him on the ground._

Naruto stumbled back, gasping and blinking rapidly. "W-what the hell was that?!" Kushina was confused and Minato shocked.

Minato opened his mouth, about to respond when they all heard a voice call out. "Whose there?" There was a rustling before a stocky gray-haired man, holding a pair of, freshly killed, rabbits by the ears, showed himself. He looked at her funny when he saw her on the ground with a face as if she'd just seen her father's death, not even acknowledging his presence. "Oi, you that gaki Sarutobi wants me to baby sit once a month? The name's Riku."

* * *

It has been a month since Hinata had witnessed her best friend's agony filled torture that blistering hot night. Through that entire time she refused to leave her room let alone speak to anyone. Hinata was currently looking at herself in the mirror; disgusted at her perfectly unmarred skin and honor-baring long hair. The image of Naruto being beaten flashed in front of her again for the thousandth time.

Hinata slammed he fist into her reflection, watching as the mirror peaces shattered around her mixing with her blood on the white carpet. She picked up a large piece and began to savagely tear at her hair. _I don't deserve the Hyuuga honor! I'm pathetic! I ran away!_

Footsteps were running down the hallway, no doubt alerted by the noise. Hinata dropped on the ground and cried, never relenting on her abuse to herself. Her father burst into her room and after taking in the seen, wore a mask of disgust. He walked up to her and tore the glass out of her hand before striking her across the face and turned around. Just before he exited her room he said in a tight voice, "Your weak, Hinata." That was the first time he had said that to her but far from the last.

* * *

Iruka wasn't sure if he could deliver the news to his students when he himself hadn't completely gotten over the shock. He walked in on a classroom of noisy and disrespectful ninja-aspiring children. He had to bite back a sob as he thought of one such child that barely had a chance to live let alone become a ninja.

Iruka walked to the center of the classroom silently and unnoticed. He just stared at them, looking at their happy faces and carefree movements, knowing that he would soon take that from them. Idly, Iruka noticed that the Hyuuga heiress was back to school for the first time since the festival with a new hair cut. He felt sick that he had to tell her of her best friend's death in front of all these people.

Gradually students began to detect his presence and the absence of his yelling to quiet them. One by one they sat down and gazed at his solemn visage. Iruka locked eyes with Hinata and she stared back at him in fear. _Strange, its like she knows,_ he thought before turning away from theirs questioning gazes. Iruka braced himself on his desk, back facing them, and his arms shook as he spoke.

"One month ago, on October tenth, during the festival," his voice was shaking now and it was hard to continue but he did, "Uzamaki Naruto was brutally beaten and stabbed to death." Silence met his words. Nobody moved except Hinata who was slowly reaching for her pencil.

Sakura was the first to break the silence with a boisterous laugh. "That's really funny and all Iruka-sensei but can we stop with the jokes and get on with class." Others started to laugh as well, preferring her train of thought than the despairing reality.

Iruka, however, was far from laughing. He turned around and glared icily at her unable to stop the leak of his killing intent. "Haruno! You dare to mock the dead?! Someone you knew even! A child! She didn't deserve to die!" the class quickly shut up after his outburst. Ashamed that he lost his temper with children, he muttered the class's dismissal before quickly exiting the room. Too shocked to really react yet the student began to trickle out of the classroom. All but one blue haired girl clutching her pencil.

She didn't know how long she sat there staring strait ahead unseeingly. The same images ran through her mind repeatedly. Hinata guessed that she'd always knew Naruto had died that night, but having it confirmed like that made all the worse.

Naruto's scream rang through her ears again and she brought the pencil down harshly on her thigh where it pierced the skin and started to bleed heavily.

A little while after that a newly curse-sealed Neji came in and demanded cruelly that she hurry up and head home.

* * *

**Two Years Into Time Skip-Ten Years Old**

Naruto never did like heights, especially after the Hokage Monument incident. Her fingers ached just thinking about it. She was standing on the edge of a particularly high cliff at the moment questioning her sanity. Ever since that day and her ability to see the dead she had lost all sense of fearing death, but this was just crazy. **Oi Gaki, don't do anything stupid. As in getting us killed.**

_Oh come on Kyuu-nii it would take a lot more than this to kill us. And besides its perfect training for my wind element control Oka-san's trying to teach me. _

**How many times do I have to tell you NOT to call me that?! I'm not your brother and I, as the ninth demon lord refuse to be called such, SECIALY by a mere human KIT!**

_Ha Ha. Like you can stop me…Kyuu-nii_.

He was about to reply before he was abruptly cut off as she through herself off the rock face. Naruto free fell for half of the way before she applied a weak wind, elemental, chakra resistance. Said resistance didn't do much. _Kuso! Kyuu its not working very well! Wow, were those jagged rocks always at the bottom?_

**Baka! Use more Chakra! Concentrate!**

Wind was whipping at her in all directions; long hair, she failed to tie back, was in her face, but she tried. Naruto was rewarded with her efforts as she was able to touch her feet on the side of a rock and not break her legs, but she was still far from stopping in her descent. She slid off that rock, shifted the wind pressure to her back and narrowly avoided slamming into a particularly sharp edge. Unfortunately that launched her forward to yet another rock. She shifted the wind to her outstretched hands but that caused her to back flip and land with incredible force on one leg. There was a resounding crack and then she was on her back.

"I-T-T-TAI," echoed off the canyon walls for miles.

"That was Awesome! Demo it hurts Nii-san."

**Of course it hurts Baka Gaki! **Red chakra enveloped her leg and she listened as her broken limb cracked back into place four times.

_Ha! I knew there was a reason I kept you around Kyuu-nii. _There was a growl and then:

**Urusai Baka! Your just lucky neither of your warden parents were here to see you. We'd never here the end of it.**

* * *

**Eleven Years Old**

Naruto was getting bored. Sure there was training with her parents and Kyuu-nii and even Riku from time to time but they had all fallen into a regular pattern of lifestyle and that just wasn't fun anymore. Jiji hadn't given her any missions yet like he said he would. Riku's 'missions' went from hunting, which wasn't so bad, to cleaning his house! Minato and Kushina's 'missions' were how far Naruto could get with her training. And Kyuubi's 'missions' were her using her advanced senses to find and identify different things in the forest.

Naruto wanted more…action. She wanted to fight someone other than old man Riku or her Kage Bunshins. She wanted experience. It was with this train of thought that she stumbled upon one of many mercenary service outposts, while traveling in Mizu no Kuni.

It took a lot of convincing to get her 'warden' parents, as Kyuubi would say, to go along with the idea but they relented when Naruto specified that she wouldn't take missions without a full background report and that it was just something to help her gain experience. Kyuubi was all for the idea of spreading the idea of his legacy's existence. And Riku didn't even know until much later.

Minato and Kushina however failed to inform their only daughter that it would be a _very_ bad thing to give her name as _Namikaze_ Naruto. Naruto failed to see the significance of this until word of the Mercenary: Namikaze Naruto, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko and daughter of the Yellow Flash and Yondaime Hokage, reached all the way to Iwagakure no Sato.

* * *

**Early-Fourteen Years Old **

Jiraiya very rarely visits his home village Konoha unless it was very important or he was summoned by the Hokage himself. He was checking in with one of his 'informers' in port city, tea country, and when he was about to leave she had casually mentioned a certain mercenary by the name Namikaze Naruto.

Needless to say he was sprinting back to Konoha before dawn had risen. He received a message from his old sensei and Sandaime Hokage to return immediately but that only made him continue without sleep.

When the great Konoha gates were in sight he didn't even stop to check in with the Chuunin guards there _or_ the hokage tower. Instead he barged strait into his office, via window, breathing harshly and with bags under his eyes. There the Hokage was meeting with a group of Jounin. All eyes were on him but he only stared at his sensei in a red hot, rage.

The hokage turned to those present and said, "All but Kakashi leave. We'll continue this on a later date." The room was enveloped in smoke and when it was made clear that they were indeed gone Sarutobi turned back to Jiraiya and said, "The room has already been sealed."

As soon as those words were spoken Jiraiya slammed an Iwa bingo book on the Hokage's desk. "What the hell is this?! How could you let this happen?!"

Sarutobi wore a blank visage as he picked up the book but his voice, when he spoke was worried, "Has it already traveled to them?"

"Yes." His gaze sifted to Kakashi. "Why is he here?"

"Kakashi is the only other person in this village, besides the doctor that worked on her that night, who knows she is still alive." Jiraiya nodded finding it a valid reason. "I'm afraid that that will be neigh impossible now that she has made a name for herself. However the younger generation will remain ignorant until she returns."

"Do you really think she will want to return after what happened to her here?" Kakashi spoke up.

Sarutobi sighed, "I hope that she can find it in her heart to forgive this village… For now, Jiraiya I called for you because I wanted to ask you personally if you would watch her movements. Find out what she's doing and what her motives are, if she has any. We don't know how much she has changed since she left."

"Of course. I'm her godfather after all, and she is Minato's daughter. Unfortunately all of his enemy's probably know that by now too."

The Hokage nodded gravely and Kakashi said, "Dose anyone even know how she found out who her father was in the first place?" Silence met his words.

* * *

Riku stood before Naruto and held out the Konoha Hitai-ite that she had given him on they're first meeting. "Naruto I know you told me to only give this to you when you are on your way to return back to Konoha, nevertheless with so many people after your hide, if you wear this, then it tells them that if they harm you they are starting a war with Konoha."

"That's exactly why I didn't want to wear it, demo if it makes you feel better I'll take it with me and whip it out if I fall too far into shit."

Riku smiled as he handed it to her, "Same old Naruto."

* * *

**Mid Fourteen Years Old-Five Months Later**

Kakashi was walking to his apartment after another A-rank mission, when he noticed Jiraiya rushing toward the hokage tower. He quickly fell into step with the man and asked, "What's the news?"

"I'll say it when we get there." And indeed after all the preparations to seal the room were completed he immediately told them what he had learned. "You know that organization of S-class missing-nin, Akatsuki, I told you about a while back?" Sarutobi nodded. "Well I found out that their objective is gathering the Jinchuuriki and extracting their demons, effectively killing the hosts. What they do with the demons afterward is still undetermined at this point"

The Hokage instantaneously stood and asked, "Are you sure Jiraiya?!" he nodded. "This isn't good! We need to protect Naruto. I'm going to send Riku a message to send her home strait away."

There was a loud hard, knock on the Hokage's door before Sarutobi could even start writing.. The three men quieted down and schooled impassive faces as the Hokage made a hand sign that allowed the stocky gray haired man inside the room.

"Riku?" Sarutobi asked in surprise, "What are you doing here."

"Naruto's gone, Sarutobi. She missed three of our monthly meetings in a row now. She's never done that before without telling me first. I spent another month looking for her with absolutely no luck. I don't know where she is."

The previous three men in the room were shocked, particularly Sarutobi who knew Riku as one of the best trackers he had ever met. "Kakashi, take your team out and sweep for anything you can find on her whereabouts."

"Hai!" and Kakashi left to gather his team that had just recently returned.

* * *

**Late-Fifteen Years Old**

The clang of metal hitting metal echoed across the bloody battle field as hundreds of men and women fought against each other for land that was not their own. Three ninja, two men and one woman crouched around another man on the ground, hidden behind an outcropping of rocks. Blood pored out of his chest wound as his friends of war tried to desperately hold him together.

The woman unsealed a green pill from the scroll at her side and said, "Eat this Jirou-kun it will help you heal fast." Her voice was shaking. They were the last four ninja. They had to survive till the end and take down Kyo-teme.

"I-its your birthd-day tomorrow r-right, Narut-to-chan? Save i-it for yours-self, the mission is n-not ov-ver yet."

"I don't need it and you know that!" She shot back angrily.

"Aa, demo, I'm okay t-to die r-right now."

"No! What about your brother?! He doesn't know where you are!"

His blue eyes looked sad and he coughed up blood before he replied, "You'll t-tell him wh-what became o-of his little bro-brother won't y-you?"

Sensing that his time was in his solid body short Naruto took his hand and said, "I swear to you and all the nine demon lords that I will stab that bloody, bastard Kyo through the heart and bring your body back to your family in Kumo!"

He smiled his last smile as the light faded from his eyes. When he breathed his last breath the screams and metal clashing caused Naruto to stand and turn to her other two companions. "Katsuo-kun, Akio-kun, lets go, we have an assassination to complete."

* * *

Team seven, Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Suzume Yuuta, were given their first c-rank mission together but it was quickly declared A-rank. They chose to complete the mission anyway and paid for that decision. They carried Suzume Yuuta back to his home in a body bag; the result of being ambushed by two of Gato's hired help which he managed to defeat before his death. He was given an honorable burial and his name was carved into the memorial stone.

Yuuta's death weighed heavy in the hearts of team seven and that fact was made worse when they were told that a replacement for him will be given in time of the Chuunin exams. Kakashi, hardened Jounin, that he was had to give his student's cold body to his mother.

**This chapter was supposed to be vague on detail because I might write a side fan fiction on the time Naruto was away from Konoha.**


End file.
